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NewsRaymond Doherty
7 Mar 2018 04:54pm

Joke's on PwC at the Oscars

The Big Four firm was the butt of jokes from host Jimmy Kimmel following last year’s shambles

Caption: Last year's now infamous mix-up
Last year PwC was forced to issue an apology after its partners handed the wrong envelope to presenters of the night’s biggest prize at the 89th Academy Awards, leading to one of the most dramatic Oscars mix-ups in history.

The snafu made global headlines for days and the two PwC accountants responsible, Brian Cullinan and Martha L Ruiz, were banned from working at the awards again.

Unsurprisingly, Kimmel used it as material when hosting this year’s awards.

“Last year, about a week before the show, the producers asked me if I wanted to do some comedy with the accountants. I said, no, I don't want to do that. So, the accountants went ahead and did comedy on their own,” said Kimmel.

“And I have to hand it to them, it was hilarious, but it won’t happen again. This time, the chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers said, and I quote, ‘Our singular focus will be on the show and delivering the correct envelopes,’ which does make sense. Just out of curiosity, what was your focus the other 89 years?”

Tim Ryan, senior partner and US chairman of PwC, had outlined six new rules the firm put in place to avoid another mix-up.